1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor memory device (ferroelectric memory) which uses the polarization of ferroelectric capacitors, and, more particularly, to a semiconductor memory device which can ensure a shorter time to detect defective cells or a semiconductor memory device which can avoid a thermal inprinting phenomenon.
2. Prior Art
Some of conventional semiconductor memory devices which use the polarization of ferroelectrics are described in Document 1, xe2x80x9cLow Consumption Power, Fast LSI Technologyxe2x80x9d (pp. 231-250, published on Jan. 31, 1998 by Realize Corporation), and Document 2, xe2x80x9cUnerasable IC Memoryxe2x80x94All About FRAMxe2x80x9d (pp. 29-37, published on Jul. 9, 1996 by Kogyo Chosakai Publishing Co., Ltd.).
The operational methods for the semiconductor memory devices that use the polarization of ferroelectrics are classified into the 2T2C type and 1T1C type. Of those two types, the 2T2C type will be discussed first. FIG. 14 is a structural diagram of a 2T2C type memory device, which comprises memory cells MC0 and MC1 formed by ferroelectric capacitors, select transistors T0 and T1 which connect the memory cells MC0 and MC1 to a bit line BL or a bit line complementary line BLb, a word line WL connected to the gates of the select transistors T0 and T1, a plate line PL connected to the memory cells MC0 and MC1 and a sense amplifier SA which amplifies the difference between the potentials of the lines BL and BLb in response to an enable signal SAE.
FIG. 15 shows waveforms for explaining the read operation of the thus constituted 2T2C type memory device. In the case of the 2T2C type, when a word line potential WL rises, data in the memory cells MC0 and MC1 are transferred to the bit lines BL and BLb, so that 0 is written in one of the memory cells MC0 and MC1 and 1 is written in the other one. Suppose that 0 is written in the memory cell MC0 and 1 is written in the memory cell MC1. When the word line potential WL rises at time t1 and a plate line potential PL rises at time t2, the charges in the memory cells MC0 and MC1 are distributed to the bit lines BL and BLb and take values of V0 and V1, respectively. At time t3, the enable signal SAE becomes active to enable the sense amplifier SA. As a result, the potential difference between the bit lines BL and BLb is amplified and data is read out.
FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram of a 1T1C type memory device, which comprises memory cells MC0 and MC1 formed by ferroelectric capacitors, select transistors T0 and T1 which respectively connect the memory cell MC0 to a bit line BL and the memory cell MC1 to a bit line complementary line BLb, word lines WL0 and WL1 connected to the gates of the respective select transistors T0 and T1, a plate line PL connected to the memory cells MC0 and MC1, a sense amplifier SA which amplifies the difference between the potentials of the lines BL and BLb in response to an enable signal SAE and a Vref generating circuit which generates a reference voltage Vref.
FIG. 17 shows waveforms for the read operation of the 1T1C type memory device. In the case of the 1T1C type, only one of the word lines WL0 and WL1 rises. For example, when the word line WL0 rises, the potential of the bit line BL takes a value of V0 and the voltage Vref generated by the Vref generating circuit is applied to the bit line complementary line BLb, so that the sense amplifier SA stores the potentials of the bit lines BL and BLb. The voltage Vref is applied to the bit line complementary line BLb when the word line WL0 rises and the voltage Vref is applied to the bit line BL when the word line WL1 rises, thus ensuring reading of data xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d.
FIG. 18 shows one example of a hysteresis loop of a ferroelectric capacitor where Qh1 is a point corresponding to data xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d and Q11 is a point corresponding to data xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d. Cb1(1) is a bit line capacitance when a voltage is not applied to the ferroelectric capacitor. When a voltage of VDD is applied to the ferroelectric capacitor, the bit line capacitance which has charges Qh1 corresponding to data xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d is shifted to VDD. Because actually there is no increase or decrease in charges, therefore, the charges are redistributed between the bit line capacitance and the capacitance of the ferroelectric capacitor and the bit line capacitance is shifted to an intersection Qh2 of a bit line capacitance Cb1(2) and the hysteresis loop. With regard to the point Q11 corresponding to data xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d, the bit line capacitance is similarly shifted to a point Q12. A then differential potential xcex94V between V1 and V0 in the diagram is amplified by the sense amplifier SA and is read out.
FIG. 19 shows the relationship between xcex94V or the value of V1xe2x88x92V0 and Cb1. xcex94V takes a peak value depending on Cb1. Because the memory capacities of current semiconductor memory devices which use the polarization of ferroelectrics become larger or the number of memory cells connected to a single bit line becomes larger, Cb1 takes a value greater than the peak value.
Inprinting of a ferroelectric capacitor is a phenomenon in which the hysteresis loop is shifted due to the constant voltage application to the ferroelectric capacitor or saving at a high temperature in a polarized state. FIG. 20 shows hysteresis loops before and after inprinting. The solid line indicates the hysteresis loop before inprinting and the broken line indicates the hysteresis loop after inprinting to xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d. Inprinting to xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d shifts the hysteresis loop rightward to decrease both V0 and V1, thus making it difficult to read xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d. Inprinting to xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d, on the other hand, shifts the hysteresis loop leftward to increase both V0 and V1, thus making it difficult to read xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d.
FIG. 21 shows a flow from the end of a wafer process for a semiconductor memory device, such as DRAM, to the shipment. A wafer which has completed the wafer process is probed in the wafer state, then those devices which have passed are molded and the molds are subjected to a sorting test to sort out only those passed as good devices. Because molds are placed at a high temperature of about 170xc2x0 C. for about three hours, if ferroelectric memories are sorted along this flow, write data at the time of probing is inprinted under the high molding temperature.
At the time of probing, ferroelectric capacitors degraded due to a process variation are checked out and the associated devices are discriminated as defective or redundancy saving is performed on the degraded ferroelectric capacitors. It is necessary, at this time, to perform a long cycling test in order to find out deteriorated ferroelectric capacitors.
According to the prior arts, as described above, when ferroelectric memories in the wafer state are probed and molding is carried out thereafter, thermal inprinting occurs so that molds suffer a low inprint resistance. Further, a cycling test must be performed to find ferroelectric capacitors degraded by a process variation, resulting in further degradation of the ferroelectric capacitors. This makes the overall test time longer.
Accordingly, the invention aims at providing a semiconductor memory device which solves the first problem that the conventional semiconductor memory devices using ferroelectric capacitors need a longer test time to detect degraded ferroelectric capacitors or a semiconductor memory device which solves the second problem of suffering a lower inprint resistance.
To overcome the first problem, a semiconductor memory device according to the invention is designed in such a way that a voltage VBL of a bit line pair which determines a voltage to be applied to ferroelectric memory cells and a voltage VPL of plate lines are so set as to satisfy a relationship of VBL=VPL less than VDD where VDD is a supply voltage. This makes the size of the hysteresis loop of the ferroelectric capacitors smaller than that in case of VBL=VPL=VDD, a potential difference xcex94V between data xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d and data xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d can be made smaller than an operational margin of a sense amplifier. This makes it possible to detect a deteriorated ferroelectric capacitor without conducting a cycling test.
To overcome the second problem, a semiconductor memory device according to the invention is provided with control means which controls the potential of a bit line pair, a plate line potential and a word line potential, whereby after the polarization state of ferroelectric capacitors is temporarily set to a polarization state corresponding to data xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d by controlling those potentials, regardless of the initial data state of the ferroelectric capacitors, a plate line drive voltage is changed to a voltage lower than the supply voltage and plate lines are driven to finally set the ferroelectric capacitors to a non-polarization state. This can prevent the influence of thermal inprinting at the time of probing.